The Brave New World of Spiritual Well-Being :Infusing Soul Into a Wake Forest Education

Office of the ChaplainSoulful Conversations in a Community of Friends

Raising Visionaries

Suppose we discovered that it was possible to raise visionaries: persons with concern for their neighbor who

were willing to devote their lives to the healing of the planet?

(Coleen Smith Slosberg, United Campus Ministry, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1998)

Raising Visionaries

People like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks,

Thich Nhat Hanh, or Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Raising Visionaries

People like those who lobby for compassionate welfare reform, those who are building affordable housing using

volunteer labor, and those who become directors of non-profits serving the local community.

Critical Moments

In the movie recounting the journey of Apollo 13, scientists were discussing the return trip to earth.

If their course projection was off by only a few degrees when the astronauts left the moon’s orbit, the space capsule would swing wide of earth and be flung out into space

A small push at the critical moment

can make a huge difference.

Places of Leverage

There are places of leverage in each life, places where growth is happening so quickly that a small move may change the projection of a lifetime.

While there are many critical moments in life, one of these comes during the college years.

The emerging adult has power

and personal freedom

but not the emotional maturity

that comes with

experience.

Setting the Trajectory

The future of life for emerging adults is being

set during the college years.

There is great potential to impact the future,

provide the little push, help set the trajectory.

Enriching the Soil

The campus community is the soil of great and intense growth.

If that soil is poor, if it is lacking in certain nutritional elements or important stimuli, the growth which occurs

during these years may be stunted.

Growing Leaders With Vision

But if the soil is rich with the appropriate stimuli, the potential for growth is great.

So, how can we enrich the soil of the campus in such a way that students develop a hopeful vision for the world?

How can we enrich it to encourage the growth of leaders with vision?

How can we help to enrich the soil of the campus in such a way that we encourage some of our students to commit their lives to service, to the healing of the world?

BIG QUESTIONS

We, the Office of the Chaplain, have a vision.

We believe that the deepest questions in life are spiritual.

They are questions about the search for meaning and purpose.

They are profoundly personal questions that each of us must ultimately answer in our own way:

Who am I?

Why am I here?

What is worth living for?

How do I live my values?

Whom and what do I serve?

What is it that I love above all else?

What happens to me when I am gone?

We believe that spirituality is a universal instinct toward connection with others and discovery of our place in the larger web of life.

The spiritual quest is a lifelong pursuit, but it emerges full bloom during the transition from youth to adulthood.

For most students, the college years are a time of questioning and spiritual searching in which there is particular emphasis upon two dimensions of spirituality:

1) asking BIG questions about meaning and purpose

2) and finding a spiritual home.

Two Dimensions of Spirituality

So Who Are We?

We Are Spiritual Pilgrims

We are spiritual pilgrims who live on a planet traveling in three different ways at the same time.

The earth spins on its axis at 1,000 mph. We orbit around our sun at 66,600 mph. Our solar family, composed of the sun and planets and their

moons, is also racing through space at 43,000 mph.

Four great questions present themselves to those who travel and live upon this planet:

Where did I come from?

Where am I going?

Why am I here?

How am I to live?

We Are Spiritual Amphibians

We are also designed to live harmoniously in the midst of both

the spiritual and the material,

the physical and the metaphysical,

the here and the hereafter.

Humans are meaning-making beings.

Whether one adheres to Socrates’ admonition to “know thyself” or advice that the “unexamined life is not worth living,” humans possess a

hunger and a thirst to create meaning within their lives.

Spiritual Well-Being

We are torn between wanting security and wanting to break free, between deadening ourselves to human suffering and opening ourselves up to the experience of living, between

racing to protect our future and pausing to enjoy the moment, between surviving and thriving.

So what are we really yearning for?

We believe that we are hungering and thirsting for

SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING.

Spiritual Well-Being:So What Is It?

Spiritual well-being is not something to be achieved.

Spiritual well-being is not something to be acquired.

It is inside you, not out there in the world.

Most people are looking outside of themselves for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, for security, for a sense of

purpose and meaning, or for love, when we have treasure within, greater than anything the world can offer.

Spiritual Well-Being: Six Basic Yearnings*

Spiritual well-being is a way of answering the six basic yearnings we all share as human beings:

Joy. We were born with the capacity for total joy. Vitality. We want to be filled with curiosity, wonder, and above all, a

passion for living. Meaning & Purpose. We don’t want to feel that we were created

by accident, that we don’t matter, that what we do has no effect on the world. We want a purpose to give us direction.

Peace. We want, as much as possible, to be free of suffering. Love. We want to love and be loved. A Spiritual Foundation. We want a sense of transcendence that

helps us to brave tragedy and suffering and discover an internal, eternal core of stability and peace.

*Terry Lynn Taylor & Mary Beth Crain, 1997

Spiritual Well-Being: Competencies

Seven Spiritual Qualities*

1) Resilience – The capacity to maintain one’s sense of calm and centeredness, especially in times of crisis

2) Spiritual Curiosity – An active quest for answers to life’s “big questions”

3) Ethic of Caring & Civility – A sense of caring and compassion for others

4) Service to others – A desire to keep within one’s heart a love for the cause of human welfare and a dedication to enrich the lives of all people

5) Interfaith Worldview – A global worldview that also honors particularity

6) Competency & Commitment within a Spiritual/Religious Tradition – An “internal” quality that reflects the student’s knowledge of and commitment to a particular spiritual/religious tradition

7) Authenticity – The courage to be fully human

*adapted from A National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose,

Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA, 2003-2010

Spiritual Well-Being: Authenticity

“We put our best foot forward, but it’s the other one that needs attention.”

- William Sloane Coffin

Spiritual Well-Being: Vulnerability

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but

not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy – the experiences that make us most vulnerable.” - Brené Brown

“If you trade authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame,

resentment, and inexplicable grief.” - Brené Brown

Spiritual Well-Being: Silence

The Biblical injunction ‘Be still and know that I am God,’ sums up a theme that runs through all of world myths and religions, from the teachings of the

Buddha to the sayings of the Christian saints, from the wisdom of the Kabala to the writings of the Sufi mystics.

Spiritual well-being is about one of the greatest of all spiritual practices – the simple observance of silence.

Spiritual Well-Being:Vocation & Calling

“Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”

- Parker Palmer

Spiritual Well-Being:Slowing

Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and WakeGloucester, U.K.

From the top of a hill a 9 lb round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled, and competitors race down the hill after it. The first person over

the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. Hmmmm…..

Spiritual Well-Being:Social Media

How does spiritual well-being amplify the benefits and lessen the harms associated with social media?

Spiritual well-being emphasizes how we are interconnected.

Spiritual well-being helps us differentiate between communication and connection.

Spiritual well-being teaches us how to develop discriminating awareness.

Spiritual well-being teaches us not to pretend that we have qualities we don’t have and not to try to hide shortcoming that we do have.

Spiritual well-being teaches us to be considerate of others, to be civil, and not to interrupt and waste the time of others with meaningless chatter.

Religion & Spirituality

It is important to differentiate the notion of religion from issues of spirituality, because the words are often used interchangeably.

Religion is a shared system of beliefs, principles, or doctrines related to a belief in and worship of a supernatural power.

Spirituality is the search for meaning, transcendence, wholeness, purpose, and “apprehension of spirit” as the animating essence at the core of life, a search more personal than public (Parks, 2000).

Ideally, religion and spirituality significantly overlap. However, there are religious people tied so closely to dogma and doctrine as to be disconnected from issues of the spirit, and people who disavow any notion of or connection with religion yet are deeply involved in a search for meaning, wholeness, and purpose.

Historical Context

Although most public and private colleges were founded in conjunction with a particular denomination (mostly Protestant, Catholic, and recently Jewish), in the past century there was a marked move away from the trappings of organized religion on the college campus.

For example, mandatory chapel and the senior capstone course on morality or philosophy were eliminated.

Historical Context

In the twentieth century, modern science took center stage featuring research that created new ways of understanding life, organizations, and human nature.

Historical Context

No longer was religion needed to explain the nature or order of the world.

Historical Context

In the last decade, however, there has been a resurgence in spiritual exploration and religion.

Go into any Barnes & Noble and check out the best-seller listings; you will find numerous books published in the past few years with spirit, soul, and even spiritual intelligence in the title.

Religious Life Today

Today, many students are coming to Wake Forest as believers in some spiritual tradition; participating in practices such as community service, meditation, worship, prayer, small group study, yoga, or tai chi; and seeking answers to questions about meaning and purpose.

Religious Preference, Fall 2005

Not Reported; 2.0%

Baptist; 14.1%

Buddhist; 0.2%

Christian Scientist;

0.1%

Episcopal; 7.3%Greek Or-

thodox; 0.9%

Hindu; 0.7%Jewish; 2.1%

Lutheran; 3.2%Methodist; 12.1%

Moravian; 0.3%

Morman; 0.2%

Muslim; 0.2%

No Preference; 5.1%Presbyterian; 12.9%

Protestant; 8.1%Quaker;

0.1%

Roman Catholic; 24.3%

United Church of Christ; 1.3%

Unitarian; 0.2% Other; 4.3%

Religious Preference, Fall 2005

Religious Preference, Fall 2012

Roman Catholic25%

Baptist8%

Protestant7%

Presbyterian7%

Methodist7%

Episcopal7%

Jewish3% All Other

35%

Religious PreferenceFall 2012

Religious Preference, Fall 2012

Pastoral Care: 24/7

At Wake Forest the Chaplains work in concert with the University Counseling Center, Residence Life & Housing, Student Health, University Police, Campus Ministry, and the Office of Academic Advising to provide 24/7 care for students, faculty and staff.

Pastoral Care: Deep Listening

We listen We do not try to fix things We do not minimize pain We bring pain into the light and examine it We do not offer unsolicited advice We keep confidentiality We refer when necessary We honor silence We hold sacred space We empathize and offer compassion We pray a lot We pay attention

Externally-Funded Christian Campus Ministries

Athletes in Action (AIA)

Baptist Student Union (BSU)

Catholic Campus Ministry

*College Life

Emmaus

Episcopal Campus Ministry

International Campus Ministries of the Triad

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministries

Lutheran Student Movement (LSM)

Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF)

Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PCUSA)

Reformed University Fellowship (PCA)

Wesley Foundation (UMC)

*Currently going through the chartering process

Student Religious Groups

Athletes in Action (AIA) Muslim Student Association (MSA)

Baptist Student Union (BSU) Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF)

Catholic Campus Ministry Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PCUSA)

Chi Rho Reformed University Fellowship (PCA)

Christian Legal Society Wesley Foundation (UMC)

Christian Medical & Dental Association

*College Life

Emmaus

Episcopal Campus Ministry

Gospel Choir

Hillel

International Campus Ministries of the Triad

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Fellowship

Intimate Praise

Living Parables

Lutheran Student Movement (LSM)

Minor Variation *Currently going through the chartering process

Student Religious Groups: Positive Effects

What positive effects have we observed student religious groups to foster?

Religious groups give students a sense of community, a sense of belonging.

Religious groups give students a sense of purpose.

Religious groups provide for codes of conduct.

Religious groups powerfully bind students into groups through the observance of holidays and ritual celebrations.

Religious Life: Code of Conduct

Every Wake Forest chaplain, campus minister, religious advisor and student religious group, is committed:

to promote the moral and spiritual growth of the Wake Forest University community,

to support the University’s steady exercise of free inquiry and its pursuit of the highest standards of intellectual and moral excellence,

to represent that group and its purposes forthrightly, while at the same time treating with respect the ministries and religious traditions of others, and

to safeguard the religious freedom, human dignity, conscience and personal welfare of any individuals met and engaged in the course of that group’s ministry.

Office of the Chaplain:Mission Statement

Soulful Conversations in a Community of Friends

As part of fulfilling its mission and achieving its goals, Wake Forest University seeks to encourage students, faculty, and staff to “explore the spiritual

dimensions to human existence in ways that prompt examination of self and perceptions of the world.”

The religious and spiritual components of the University’s programming are intended to encourage the pursuit of meaning through spiritual reflection and free inquiry, enabling a wide circle of inclusion and identifications, advancing mutual understanding and respect among differing traditions, while at the same time

fostering Wake Forest’s Baptist history and traditions in real and tangible ways.

Office of the Chaplain:Who Are We?

We are teachers of slowness, of savoring, of seeing the world below the surface.

We also believe that the cultivation of the human spirit is the deepest form of learning.

Office of the Chaplain: Staff

Rev. Tim Auman Chaplain

Rev. Becky Hartzog Associate Chaplain

Rev. K. Monet Rice-Jalloh Associate Chaplain

Imam Khalid Griggs Associate Chaplain for Muslim Life

Vacant Director of Catholic Programming

Dr. Gail Bretan Director of Jewish Life

Pattie McGill Administrative Assistant

Peggy Beckman Administrative Assistant

Katherine Bogue Fellow

Michael McEnany Fellow

The Spirit of Wake Forest

We believe that the same SPIRIT that animated

Mother Teresa animates each Wake Forest student.

Spiritual Well-Being

The work of the Office of the Chaplain can serve as an “endowment fund.”

Students, faculty and staff are invited to dip into this sacred reservoir when they need the discipline to align

their heart’s desires with their actions.

Spiritual Well-Being

It takes as much effort to be spiritually healthy as it does to keep your body in shape.

Above all, to be spiritually healthy our students need to live on a diet of good ideas and excellent ideals.

We cannot raise visionaries.

Only God can do that.But we can enrich the soil out of which they may rise.

This is your invitation to join us.

Contact Us

Office of the ChaplainPhone: (336) 758-5210

Fax: (336) 758-3193

Location: Reynolda Hall, Suite 22

www.chaplain.studentlife.wfu.edu

Soulful Conversations in a Community of Friends

Appendix: Infusing Soul into Student Affairs

Work

Student affairs and student affairs preparation programs have been reluctant to address spirituality as connected to student development or to the programs

and services on a college campus.

The Office of the Chaplain believes that student affairs professionals must understand the role that such values as faith, meaning, and purpose play in the structure and persistence of communities, in the

construction of knowledge, in the understanding of truth, and in development processes of students.

Appendix: Infusing Soul into Student Affairs Work

Student affairs educators can use a set of questions, authored by David Trott (2000), to think about how to infuse soul and spirituality into their work with students, staff, administrators, and faculty:

How is your spirit enthused by work? What occurs during the course of an ordinary workday that

bolsters your sense of spirituality? If you had the freedom to create a spiritually healthy organization

of your choosing, what would you emphasize? Do you feel as though work serves any higher or greater purpose

than accomplishing the tasks at hand?

Appendix: Infusing Soul into Student Affairs Work

Spiritual Practices that Can Infuse Soul into our Educational Organizations and Leadership Practice*

Strive for balance. Create daily rhythms to ground oneself. Emphasize both/and rather than either-or. Embrace wholeness – even the negative, painful aspects. Make room for silence. Practice somatic spirituality. Carry oneself with curiosity. Seek to know your inner witness. Create a language to express meaning that is at home in the soul. Embrace playfulness. Look for the sacred in the everyday.

*Kathleen Manning, 2001

Appendix:Infusing Soul into Student Affairs

WorkStrategies for Shaping an Organizational Culture*

1. An Environment of Safety. If people don’t feel safe at work, they don’t reveal themselves. Over time, this diminishes their spiritual development, authenticity, and integrity.

2. Design Reasonable Jobs. Overloading a job description has negative implications for spiritual development of staff members.

3. Develop Spiritual “Alarms.” A living community has mechanisms to help people who need additional support to get their jobs done or work through life’s challenges.

4. Shift Criteria for Performance Appraisal. Criteria that support spiritual development for staff members include assessing one’s personal development, developing reflective practices, and creating authenticity in relationships.

5. Treat Others as Sacred. Today, the “lean and mean” organizational paradigm leaves little room for treating each other as sacred. Something wonderful happens when we recognize the strengths and unique gifts in each other.

*Kathleen E. Allen and Gar E. Kellom, 2001

Appendix:Infusing Soul into Student Affairs

Work

Strategies for Staff Development

Centering Before Staff Meetings

Spiritual Reading Groups

Staff Spiritual Well-Being Retreats

Rituals and Celebrations

Physical Spaces for Reflection

Staff Service Days

Outdoor Experiences

Culture of Gratitude

Appendix:Exercise #1

Describe your spiritual life- Write And/Or Draw Your Answer -

Appendix:Exercise #2

What does wisdom mean to you?

What is the wisest thing you’ve ever heard? How does this wisdom affect your life?

How could you be wise?

Appendix:Exercise #3

Draw a picture of your center.

What does your drawing tell you about how your experience yourself spiritually?

Appendix:Exercise #4

Recall a time when you felt centered.

What did you focus on?

What did you let go of?

Where was your attention?

What were you not paying attention to?

What happened with your body?

Feelings?

Mind?

Appendix:Exercise #5

Write a prescription for yourself that will encourage spiritual well-being in your personal life.

Appendix: Exercise #6

Create a model for spiritual well-being in your office

How would others respond to it?

What would your office have to give up to have it?

What would you have to allow each other to have it?

Why don’t you do it?